The Woodcut

I have been reading the Art of Illustration and have found out some information about the woodcut developing into wood engraving, so I have decided to put some of what I have found on my blog.

One of the first techniques used to create illustrations was the woodcut. This was used till the end of the 14th Century as a more delicate method of using copper-plate engraving and etching were established. Then through the use of the woodcut wood engraving was created in the 19th Century. This involved using a burin, or graver which was used to replicate thin and delicate strokes and curves. This style enabled illustrators to create different depths of shading and fine lines.

After researching the woodcut I am going to look at some modern illustrators for my GARP... =)

Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley

Purchased best works of Aubrey Beardsley which has 170 illustrations inside...very interesting to look at his work. It amazes me how I look at one piece he has created and there are large areas of black and white and they tell a story and then I look at another piece and it's completely different, with intricate detail surrounded by patterns and shapes - yet they are both just as effective.

The Telling Line by Douglas Martin

"Every picture tells a story" if it don't - it aint.' Walter Richard Sickert. Found this in 'The Telling Line,' a book about contemporary book illustrators. In this I found John Lawrence who had been influenced by Bewick in his college days: 'sometimes I feel I've been influenced by too many people...' His style is crowded but each line is defined and he shows his english roots through his humourous approach.

Artists of Radio Times

I recently bought Artists of Radio Times, A Golden Age of British Illustration by Martin Baker as my tutor Chris had suggested it would be very useful. It includes lots of black and white artists such as John Minton, Eric Fraser and John Vernon Lord, just to name a few. In this I came across:

'Whatever the structure or the date, however before or after 1955 the illustrations in the Radio Times are as revealing to the historian of society and culture as are the programme announcements and the articles about them.'

Asa Briggs

Edward Bawden (1903-1989)

Edward Bawden was famous for being an illustrator, graphic artist and painter creating book covers, prints and posters. Through his style of cleverly using line perfectly and creating small areas of detail he made his work so interesting to look at. He learned from artist Paul Nash at the Royal College of Art School of Design who said him and Eric Ravilious were 'an outbreak of extraordinary talent.'

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898)

Aubrey Beardsley had a significant influence on the aesthetic movement and his drawings created in black ink shocked the public because of its erotic and grotesque style. He had the ability to create pieces in black and white with such detail and pattern but then also create large contrasting areas of black and white without detail. In Illustrators at Work I found a chapter in which it describes Thomas Bewick, Aubrey Beardsley and Arthur Rackham working together:

'These men, who sometimes worked as a group on a single large drawing, each taking a detached section of wood-block, were able by their great skill and experience, to interpret the variety of graphic styles employed by the illustrators.'

Thomas Bewick (1753-1828)

Found a good book called 'Illustrators at work' by Robin Jacques. It supports my idea of focusing on Bewick to start with and mentions how he was one of the most respected illustrators in early English illustration and how this technique of wood-engraving has not changed its style since Bewick's work:

'Thomas Bewick, whose wood-engravings are little miracles of ordered observation, encapsulating a hungry intellectual search for the unsentimental truth about country life.'

Bewick connects man and nature together through his intricate wood-engravings and this developed from an early age when he showed his eager interest in nature. Even though, he became widely popular in London, he did not stay there very long as he preferred the rustic way of living in Tyneside in Newcastle.

Found a good article about Thomas Bewick on Newcastle University Website: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/specialcollections/services/exhibitions/life/

The Decision: 'Masters of Black and White Illustration'

Deciding the subject I was going to research wasn't really that difficult for me as I already felt that I had a real passion for black and white illustration. Therefore, when I met up with my tutors, Julia and Chris, our discussions focused on how I was going to narrow down this broad topic. Chris suggested focusing on the three ‘B’ Masters, Aubrey Beardsley, Edward Bawden and Thomas Bewick. I liked this idea as it meant I had more direction for my research and I felt it was a good starting point that could lead into researching more modern artists that use a similar technique. We next talked about looking at the history of different processes of black and white printing, going back to the first style of woodcutting and following this how it has developed over time.